The police have identified 24 spots between Sirhaul and Kherki Daula toll plazas on the National Highway-48, where it plans to install CCTV cameras with an aim to improve overall road safety.
Police said that they will prepare a proposal and it will be sent to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) this week. It said that the initiative was taken after analysing a number of road accidents and fatal deaths due to speeding, wrong-lane driving, and lack of lights on the highway.
Kala Ramachandran, commissioner of police, said that spots have been identified on the expressway and CCTV cameras will be installed every 500 metres on the 12-kilometre stretch to track the movement of vehicles and to reduce road accidents.
“These CCTV cameras will help us know about traffic violations and if there is an accident, help can be sent to the spot and police officials can coordinate with ambulance drivers so that a victim can be sent to a hospital at the earliest,” Ramachandran said.
Ramachandran said police have identified 12 black spots on the expressway and are also trying to identify the major issues that lead to accidents. “The areas which need regular monitoring and police deployment are Sidhrawali crossing, Panchgaon Chowk, Kapadiwas Chowk, Bilaspur Chowk, Old Bilaspur toll plaza, Binola intersection, Manesar bus stand crossing, Manesar turning near the NSG, Kherki Daula toll plaza, Narsingpur crossing, Sirhaul toll plaza and Vatika Chowk on the Sohna Road. Out of these 12 locations, 11 black spots are on the NH-48,” she added.
Police said they are aiming to reduce the number of accidents across the city and will come up with more plans after roping in experts and road engineers. In 2020, Gurugram reported 796 cases of accident out of which 347 were fatal and 375 people lost their lives. In the year 2021, accident cases went up to 874, out of which 389 were fatal and there were 409 deaths. Between January 1 and 30 this year, police said 20 deaths have been reported and last year during the same period, 35 deaths were reported, said police.
The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) installed 1,200 cameras in the first phase of the project and plans to install 1,000 more cameras this year. Ravinder Tomar, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said that they want to cover the entire expressway as a lot of issues have been reported from the stretch at night. “Drivers park their heavy vehicles erratically, which are invisible due to dearth of lights and passing vehicles apply sudden brakes that result in accidents. Lane driving has improved, but we still need to monitor on a regular basis and have to penalise people for flouting traffic rules,” he said.
Police said after the project is over on the NH-48, their focus will shift to the Dwarka Expressway, where a lot of constructions are taking place and heavy vehicles ply throughout the night.
